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Death: A Source for Sound Philosophy

Through bodily death not only have we not sustained an injury, but also we have gained!
Mortality has turned out to be a gain and a benefit for us, since we do not continue to
sin in an immortal body. Furthermore, bodily death becomes a source for beneficial and
salutary philosophy. Thanks to this horrible event, we have, says St. John Chrysostom,
"a myriad opportunities for philosophical perserverance. For death convinces us, both
when it is present and when we await for it, to be modest and to live with prudence and to
be humble and to be spared from every evil." [1]

Truly, bodily death constitutes a strong and salutary medicine for restraining the base
passions of the soul. For, as the physicians say, opposites are mutually therapeutic. As
we warm what is frozen and moisten what has dried for the purpose of healing, so it is
with the all-wise Physician of our souls, the Triune God, who found a way and arranged
things with condescension and infinite love for man in order to heal the sinful passions
of the soul, Because of sin the soul was overcome by despair and foolish rebellion against
God. It was filled with traumas and wounds. For this reason our benevolent God uses a
therapy, which restrains its egotism, its satanic pride and its rebellious excitement.
What is this therapy? Death! For God fortifies the soul with death. This is why He made
the body mortal and permitted it to decay, to be dissolved and to be eaten by worms and to
exhude foul odors, placing from the beginning, by all these means, the foundations for
humility. Through these God prevents all, and even the very proud, from holding high
opinions of themselves. "For what is more foul than the human body? What is more
worthless than one who is dead?" [2]

On another occasion, St. John Chrysostom taught: He who has died is not harmed at all
by death, but the one who lives gains immensely from this event. One can benefit much from
another's dead body. For, when one sees the person who only yesterday or even earlier was
walking with him and is now being consumed by worms and decomposed into pus, ashes and
dust, and if he still has the impudence and irrational rebellion which the devil has
against God, he cowers from fear, he collects and humbles himself, and is instructed to
forbear and to accept humility, the mother of virtues as a resident of his soul. So, he
who dies is not harmed, because he will again receive his body immaculate and
incorruptible. And he who remains and continues to live also gains a great deal.
Consequently, God has placed in our life an important teacher of philosophy that instructs
our mind, controls our passions, calms the waves of our stormy life and brings serenity!
"This is no ordinary teacher of philosophy that has been introduced into our
life." [3]

To look upon the dead is an opportunity for prudence and beneficial thoughts that avert
evil and sin. The same Father goes on by saying: Look carefully at the rich and the
selfish how they gather together, when they stand by the coffin of the dead and observe
the dead human body to be laid out, deaf and motionless; when they see the children of the
deceased orphaned, his wife widowed, his friends sad, his servants dressed in black and
generally having the entire household covered with grief. See, also, how they are humbled
and how they are all contrite. While they have heard a great multitude of teachings and
have not gained anything, as soon as they see the dead they are moved, without any
coercion to philosophize continuously. As they observe the mortal, insignificant and
corrupt human nature, they become conscious of the weakness and instability of their
wealth and power. They even foresee in the misfortunes of others "their very own
changes." And he continues: There is death and, yet, there is so much stealing and
greed. The stronger swallow up those who are poorer, as "the large fish eats the
small". What would happen, one wonders, if there were no death? Even though they see
that, because of death they will not be able to enjoy the things they covet, for whether
they like it or not they must leave them to others, they, nevertheless, are wrathful and
angry against the weak. What would happen, one wonders, if they lived with security and
without the fear of death? What would restrain them from their irreverent and criminal
deeds? What would extinguish their evil desire? [4]

Moreover, the death of the body, even though it is undesirable; even though it provokes
horror within us, is, nevertheless, a blessing from God in that it is the escape from the
world of earth to the world of heaven. It is a passage from finite time to eternity
without end. It sounds strange, but it is true: Eternal life is approached through ...
death! This is the most paradoxical thing about death, it stems from the unfathomable
depth of God's wisdom and love.

If, after the transgression of Adam and Eve, the infinitely good and wise God had not
permitted death to enter into the world, our life would have been insignificant and
meaningless. But now our earthly life acquires meaning, depth and purpose, because it is
terminated by death, which opens the doorway to heaven. If we consider the material world
as self-sufficient, then everything in it is vain. Though we are informed that bodily
death is indeed a terrible and bitter therapy, yet, it is, also, a transitional stage to
eternity; when we think that this painful and agonizing procedure is one way to scale over
the abyss that stands between the present and the future, then we truly understand how
beneficial bodily death is.

In other words, death seems to say to us: Do not be fooled; the things of this present
world are constantly changing, running, leaving. Eternity, for which your soul yearn,
exists elsewhere. To that eternity it is I who will transfer you. For I have been injected
into the life of you humans as a punishment and a disgrace, but God uses me so very wisely
as a vehicle, which transfers you to the place where you so strongly and deeply desire to
be. 1, by divine edict and inscrutable providence, transfer you from the corruptible to
the incorruptible; from the earthly to the heavenly; from the temporal to the eternal!